Marco Simoncelli (born in Cattolica, Rimini, Italy, January 20, 1987 - died in Sepang, Malaysia, October 23, 2011 at age 24 years) is one of the MotoGP riders who came from Italy, and is quite famous for its racing character is quite fierce.

A spokesman for the team said of McNish: 'He's fine. He's more gutted about retiring from the race.'

When the crash happened team mates in the pits put their heads on their hands in disbelief, but then when they saw him being pulled from the wreckage they were clearly relieved.

McNish had been enjoying a stellar drive having overtaken the number nine Peugeot of Sebastien Bourdais early on before getting the better of Franck Montagny just after the 20-minute mark to establish an Audi one-two-three.

McNish had already overhauled team-mate Benoit Treluyer and had just taken Bernhard for the lead when the Scot became entangled with Beltoise.

Marshalls and phtotoraphers dive for cover as the car slams into the wall

The car looks as though it is going to flip and land on the steward side of the track, but thankfully it spun back onto the track

'I have absolutely no idea what happened,' said Beltoise. 'I was on my second lap after a pit stop. I didn't even see the Audi coming up behind me.

'The impact was very heavy. I'm disappointed for Audi, and I hope Allan is well. I'm doing fine, but I was just very surprised by the accident.'

Head of Audi Sport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich felt the blame, if any was to be apportioned, lay with the backmarker.

'The Ferrari closed the door, Allan had no chance whatsoever,' said Ullrich.

Three and easy: McNish and Tom Kristensen had made a promising start

'He went off very quickly, but luckily managed to get out of the car unharmed. To see that the cars are so strong is good, but that's not the way we like to demonstrate it.'

Such was the size of the crash just after the Dunlop Bridge, repair crews were still working on rebuilding the barrier an hour after the accident.

With two hours gone and the drivers still circling under the safety car, Bernhard led from the number two Audi of Treluyer, with the two Peugeots of Alex Wurz and Bourdais next up.

The number eight Peugeot was down the order after electing to stop for a driver change during the safety car period, with Stephane Sarrazin taking over from Montagny.